The Shirt
by OllyTheBrave
Summary: In which Marceline and Bubblegum find what was missing.
1. Chapter 1

**I'm late to the fandom, and I know it's been overdone. But here's my whack at it. Possible continuation.**

It wasn't fair.

And she knew the word 'fair.' She was a fair ruler. She knew that life wasn't as sugarcoated as her kingdom.

There were compromises. There were losses.

Sacrifices.

But situations can't be told 'no.' Conditions can't be argued with. States will not be pushed away.

So Marceline took the brunt of it. And so did Bubblegum, even if the vampire hadn't seen it that way. _Still_ didn't see it that way.

She had to have today, though. The Door Lord had—unwittingly, the _butt_—dragged it all back out.

She stared at the black shirt in her hands. Faded and old, with two dead marshmallows and one dead snake. And shouldn't all of it be? Faded and old, and dead?

And she would _never_ let herself think of the night she had been gifted it. It wasn't the least bit appropriate if she wanted to put it behind her again.

That night out on the road, through the desert with 'The Screams.' No, it couldn't be recalled. Wouldn't be.

Masochistic? Possibly, for lack of a better word. But remembering the nights after those was safer.

It was better to think of the guilt and of the frustration. The gut eating pain.

The nights her round and royal bed felt too big, and how, despite herself, she would pull that shirt over her head and wish that it was somehow taking her back in time.

As if she could put it on, as she was doing now, and it would magically tumble her mind and heart and soul back into her body then. Back to when she first pulled it on.

As if it were just a seam in time she could tip toe across.

It was better to lie on her back with the light off, buried under a den of blankets, the sheets crisp on her bare legs, and think of how she had cried then.

Cried as if she had lost a limb.

_I'm just your problem_.

"Oh Marceline," she whispered, feeling the same guilt erupt that she had earlier today. She crumbled around the feeling, fingers curling into the t shirt's fabric.

It had hurt her too. Did the blush on Marceline's face mean she saw that?

Holy _math_, it had been something stolen along with BMO's charger. Something that little console couldn't live without. The Door Lord took things that were _precious._ Did anyone need it spelled out more than that?

Did she know she hadn't forgotten her? That she wasn't just some mean, awful thing telling her she was being distasteful?

_I'm going to drink the red from your pretty pink face. _

No, it hadn't been fair for Marceline to say _that_, of all things.

And it wasn't fair for her to say she didn't know _why_ she had been "black listed," or that she wasn't "perfect" or "sweet" enough—

Anger clashed down like lightning, zig zagging off her ribs, and she shoved at the churning thoughts. Marceline knew _perfectly_ well why she was 'blacklisted.'

Maybe anger was good. Maybe anger would let her feel selfish again. At least enough to decide that the vampire had done it all to herself.

_Because of what? Her nature?_ _Oh just __**stop already**_**.**

Bubblegum pushed up, padding over to her window and sliding it open just a smudge. Cool air gently toyed with her hair.

And ugh, no, she _wouldn't let evening breeze be nostalgic either!_

Groaning, she pulled away from the window sill. Defeated, she lay back down on her bed.

Sleep meant tomorrow, and that meant a passing of time. And nothing patched up old locks and closed doors better than that.

Sleep came in the nature of slowly walking down stairs.

And halfway down and out, she did tip back in a way. Dreams couldn't be told 'no' either.

_Her eyes took in the tent, her and Marceline's things piled around her sleeping bag. _

_The dry, cool night air smelled like dust and rain, and it clung to her skin in thin sheet of sweat and grit. _

_The desert was WAY more than one 's' from dessert, and the sand and cacti made her miss home._

_She pulled the loose shirt down, shimmying the hem down to her hips where her underwear sat. _

_She looked up, finding Marceline's face. The girl was hovering over her, bent at the top of the tent. Her gray lips parted, but nothing came out._

"_Does it look that ridiculous?" Bubblegum snorted, still euphoric from the concert. There was something just so wild and free about it. So raw and emotional, a roller coaster of sound. Her ears were __**still**_ _ringing._

_And as much as she hated to admit it, as much as it surprised her, she wanted Marceline's approval at the moment. That yes, she did belong. Even though she was 'three cups of sprinkles with a crown' or whatever that was supposed to mean. _

_Marceline's dark eyes swept over her, trailing from her toes back up to her pink hair. _

_And Bubblegum's good natured smile faded. _

_The vampire's jaw clicked shut, her hair curling as she slowly descended._

_And just with a 'tap' of the rocker's red boots to the ground, Bonnibel's heart was pounding. Her pink hands let go of the shirt's hem. _

_The queen walked towards her slowly, and now the princess was sure the entire band outside would hear her crashing heart and __**know**__ what was going on._

_Whoa, __**what **__is going on? Her brain asked. It seemed like a good question._

_She opened her mouth to say it, mostly because Marceline was now right there. _

_Bubblegum swallowed nervously, tucking a loose strand of rosy hair behind her ear. _

_And Marceline reached over, moving it back._

"_You look…" she started, eyes searching her face. "You look…"_

_It struck the princess that Marceline, the vampire Queen, was looking at her right now the way that others did when she was all dressed up. _

_Gazing upon her sweaty, grimy, sun baked and messy haired self the way an entire kingdom would swoon when she stepped out in a crown and a frilly, shimmering dress._

_Bubblegum's hands curled into the front of the vampire's tank top. _

_She stepped the rest of the space between them. And standing on her tippy toes, pressed her lips to Marceline's._

_And it's only a dream, but it feels so real. _

_She pulled back, and the vampire's eyes were still closed, the brow over them furrowed. Her tongue licked her lips, and she peered out under heavy lashes. _

"_Delicious," Marceline finally finished. "You look so delicious."_

_And it's only a dream, but when they kiss again, she can feel the arms at her sides. She can feel her back on the plush sleeping bag. She could feel Marceline all over her._

_She could feel…feel…_

Bubblegum's body jolted awake. And she hoped to the fates that she hadn't just kicked off her blankets. That she hadn't opened her window that far.

"_Marcy_?" she almost pleaded with the dark. And for the first time, she realized how close it sounded to 'mercy.'

A cold hand cupped her cheek, real and solid and _there_.

"I'm sorry. I just needed to know that you weren't lying," said the breath ghosting her lips, said a quiet, scared voice. Said the vampire pressed to her, here because of the shirt between them and today.

Bubblegum threw her arms around her, burying her face into dark hair.

"No, never," the princess breathed, clutching Marceline as if any moment she was going to disappear.

Like she had clutched her back then too, when the girl's grey hand pressed between her legs for the first time. When anyone's had for the first time.

Only then she was scared and ready for entirely different reasons.

She slid back just to bring her lips to the vampire's again, her legs leaving her bed to wrap around the queen's denim clad hips.

Marceline seemed to understand, because she kissed her back frantically, hands dragging down to pull at the panties Bubblegum suddenly needed off.

Bonnibel shoved herself against her, forcing her to sit back so that she could sit in her lap, still straddling her hips. Marceline's chest pressed just under hers, and she griped the vampire's shoulders, leaning her head down to capture that mouth for her own.

She pulled away to yank the queen's tank top off, feeling her underwear drag down her thighs. The black t shirt lifted up between them, ashen palms dragging behind, but she yanked it back down.

"No—let it stay on," she breathed between their lips locking, and Marceline inhaled as if those words were the air she needed.

Bubblegum felt arms wrap tight around her shoulders and waist, and the vampire lifted her up, laying her back and down to the sheets slowly.

As if she was going to break. As if everything between them was going to break, and she realized nothing that either of them _said_ was going to make that dread unknot.

She kicked her underwear off her toes, her fingers wrestling with a jean button and zipper. They curled through belt loops, yanking the pants down just enough.

Her eyes almost opened at the bare and soft skin under them, but she felt Marceline's lips curl up against her own, and she fought the urge to smile too.

Of course she's not wearing underwear. Did she expect different?

Did she remember different?

Euphoric laughter built up inside, but it was devoured by a hunger so deep that she almost feared it would swallow her whole.

She pushed her hand past the zipper teeth, feeling her way, and Marceline's mouth disappeared. Her face buried into Bonnibel's neck, her own hand slithering down from up the princess's shirt—_our shirt_—and finding where she was needed too.

"_Oh_," Bubblegum gasped, partly because she had forgotten how surprisingly warm and wet Marceline could be, but mostly from the way the queen twisted inside of her. One finger at first, but another immediately joining.

She pushed inside too, almost wanting the pain as Marceline bit down on her lower lip, hissing into their kiss.

And she felt so complete. Felt like something that had been torn from her was right back in place. She blindly moved her tongue forward, pushing against the fangs until they parted.

Marceline moaned, a rolling sound from her throat. Their tongues met, clashing.

They moved against another, a pink hand relearning the vertebrae of a grey back, the muscles that tightened under her nails. Any time their bare skin met and grazed, the princess felt higher and higher.

Higher than she did when she stood on the top of her tallest tower, than when she did riding The Morrow's wings.

She explored every place she could reach of Marceline, and like an old treasure hunt map, things came back.

How much she liked her pointed ears to be cried into, how much the vampire loved it when she moved her hips against her hand. How Marceline liked her hair being held in a tight fist, the flesh of her hips scratched.

How she somehow hadn't forgotten a single place on Bonnibel, dragging her forked tongue up her throat, kissing the hollow of her neck, teasing the hard nipples under the black shirt with fingers calloused over the years from steel strings.

How the crown of the vampire's head smelled like wind after rain, how her dark hair curled down into her own pink tresses, slipping over her shoulders like streams of black silk.

Her head pressed back against the pillows, listening to her heart hammer, riding the intensity between her legs and deep inside. The grind she frantically kept up with, listening to Marceline's steady pant.

The nostalgia was crushing her— the echoes from yesterday washed over her again and again.

Her face contorted from pleasure and pain, and she could almost feel the dry desert night, feel the anxious need to stay quiet so no one else heard.

Feel how it didn't seem surprising at all that she felt safe here. Safe under Marceline, safe in those arms, despite the fangs pressing to the skin of her neck. Safe to fall and tumble into the sort of love she had been told a prince would grant her one day.

"Oh God," she whispered. Her hand fell back, griping the edge of the mattress under her pillows.

She felt Marceline's hand follow, finding it. They locked fingers.

The vampire thrust even faster and Bubblegum was seizing up, jerking her hand back just as strong. Refusing to let up, because it had to be shared. Because they were both so head strong, and they needed the last word, the last move.

Her jaw wrenched open just as Marceline's teeth dug into her shoulder.

The sudden drain of color to her skin toppled her over. Marceline's hips stuttered against her rocking hand.

And then the queen collapsed on top of her, her forehead pressing to Bonnibel's upper arm. They fought for air, everything about them falling limp as they drifted.

Limp, save for their hands, fingers still digging tight into knuckles.

But the waves idled away. And in the afterglow, she realized how dark it was.

Bubblegum's eyes opened. By the sweep of eyelashes against her skin, Marceline's had too.

Things had happened after those nights. Things that hadn't ended as tenderly as they had the first time.

She had cried then, and Marceline had kissed her tears, and had held her all night.

But then came the era where she hadn't.

What were they even thinking now—?

"Let me stay," came a fierce whisper, and even though there was an entire girl pressed to her, it was almost startling.

"Of course," she whispered back, squeezing her eyes shut in a hot sting. "Of course you can stay."

She rolled them over, pushing until they were both on their sides and facing another, noses inches away.

Her hands cupped Marceline's face, and she could feel twin trails of moisture there. There was plenty more hurt in between them than a few stray tears.

She buried her face under the vampire's jaw, pressing a kiss to her cold neck, her fingers curling against the bare shoulders where bra straps had fallen loose.

Marceline held her tight, their legs intertwining. She was stone silent, breathing in where her nose staid buried in pink hair.

"We'll talk tomorrow," Bonnibel said. Her arms slid under the vampire's to hold her back. "I promise."


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Aware that 'You Made Me!' came after 'What Was Missing,' but I think we can all agree that two Lemongrabs are better than one. Which is better than none.**

It was the cold breeze lifting tiny hairs on her back that woke Bubblegum.

Her eyes opened groggily, blinking as they adjusted to the first bar of a sunrise.

Her arm moved across them, and she rolled over only to wince—her shoulder stung.

Frowning, she moved her fingers down, scraping past her shirt to touch the tender area. The skin there was raised into two small bumps.

"What the math?" she muttered, cracking her eyes open enough to peer down. Her chin touched her neck for a better look.

There was a white circle sitting where Marceline had bit.

She bolted upright, staring at the rumpled sheets beside her. How had she forgotten?

She pressed a hand to her head, eyes bouncing to the open window. Despite her alarm, she couldn't help but wonder how well she had to have slept to forget.

She hadn't slept like that since…well, if she were to be honest, since Marceline had last spent the night beside her.

Or had tuckered her out, for that matter. She blushed, rolling her knees up. But where oh where had her friend gone now?

Her hands slid over the empty space of her bed, squeezing into the round edge of her mattress.

If she wasn't unusually up and at it in the morning—thank Glob for being made entirely of sugar- she might have thought the queen had escaped after she caved to sleep.

Instead, she calmly pulled herself over the bed, feeling the blood rush to her eyes and nose as she peered under it.

"Hi," Marceline said, lying flat on her belly. The shallow shadows around her were dim, and there was a look of sheepish discomfort about her.

Even though her stomach knotted with a hundred different feelings, a smile broke out across Bonnibel's lips.

"Hi," she murmured. Then, teasingly, "Should've closed the drapes, huh?"

"Well, since you're up and all," Marceline grumbled. "Sunlight sucks. Don't know how you can stand it."

"Hang on." Bubblegum awkwardly clambered out of bed, very aware that her underwear was somewhere across the floor. Pulling her shirt down, she made her way to the window, leaning out to close it—

"Hey PB!" cried an all too eager and young voice.

Her eyes widened, staring down.

Finn waved madly from the ground, Jake morphed into some sort of camel under him. _Why a camel—_

"Uh, hi Finn!" she replied, stooping in fear that her lower half was somehow making an appearance.

"MY CAMEL HAS STEPPED IN FECAL WAAASSTTTEEE. EEEERRRZRZHHRHHH THIS IS _UNACCEPTAAABBLLLLLLEEEE_!"

Oh.

"Lemongrab," she waved stiffly.

"Do you got that stuff to fix the other Lemongrab?" Finn yelled over the fit, his face contorting with pain. Jake's ears stuffed inside themselves, his jowls puckering.

The 'other Lemongrab' peered out from behind the original Earl, who was still screaming. A long sword was going through his bandaged head.

"_Spit, I forgot—_yes! I'll be _right_ down."

She pulled the window shut, drowning out the rage below to the relief of her ears. She yanked the drapes closed and turned, watching Marceline's grey arms appear like some sort of bogeyman emerging from its lair.

She dragged herself out, black bra still askew and hair messy, her unzipped pants hanging low on her hips.

"Duty calls?" she asked, pushing dark strands from her face.

"Unfortunately," Bubblegum rushed, hurrying to dress herself.

"Yeah," the queen muttered, lightly kicking the air. She shoved her hands deep into her back pockets.

Bonnibel made her way over, brushing her hair furiously. "I'll be right back up."

And Marceline's face twisted in surprise as the princess paused to kiss her cheek.

"Y'mean you want me to stay?"

"I promised you we'd talk," Bubblegum said, straightening her crown.

"Okay," the vampire said, something of a smile working at her lips. It made her smile, too.

But when she left the room, lifting her dress to bolt downstairs, she felt her chest tighten.

She was raising hopes high. For both of them, really, but Bonnibel knew herself, and knew she would be okay if the outcome wasn't…_pleasant._

A kingdom needed to be run at all times, and it was easy to throw herself into such demanding work.

But Marceline? There was a tough act for a reason. Not to mention a rebellious nature towards anything that tried to control her.

And a never ending grudge to anything that crossed her.

"M'lady! The Earl Lemongrab is using Starchy to clean his camel!"

Bonnibel rolled her eyes at the cries of horror outside. "Coming!"

By the time she got the boys back and on their way, it was midmorning. She practically took three stairs at a time rushing back, skidding inside her room and bolting the door.

"_Whew_," she breathed, shrugging out of her lab coat. She stopped, her ears perking.

The shower in her bathroom was running. And over the pour of water, there was a soft hum of words.

Words that grew louder as she moved towards the door, noting it had been left ajar.

"_The way she says hell-ooo_

_The way she smells, oh _

_So fine_

_Bonnibel_

_Won't you give me the time_."

She moved through the warm tiles, the trail of red boots and jeans and bra. The steam over her head swirled coolly around the shadow inside the bright yellow curtains.

The words flowed from her lips, softly bouncing off the tiles. Her voice almost longing.

"_I missed_

_The last time we kissed_

_Oh Bonnibel…"_

Marceline fell silent, her cheek almost touching her grey shoulder at the sound of the curtain rings sliding back and then forth.

Bubblegum staid where she stood pressed against the shower's wall, her body bare as the vampire's.

Marceline turned, her plastered hair framing her eternally youthful face. Her eyelashes dripped as she blinked, the droplets rolling down between her breasts, snaking to the corner of her hips.

Her brow rose, and Bonnibel's skin almost burned under those eyes.

"Talk later?"

The princess nodded.

A grey hand looped around her wrist, pulling her into the jet of hot water, and they reunited with a kiss, stilling the moment to a stop.

Marceline leaned into her, using hands on Bonnibel's rear to bring her rosy hips into hers. Bubblegum sighed, her arms wrapping around the vampire's neck.

Her fingers curled into her drenched black locks, and she pulled the queen's head back.

"You marked me," she scolded lightly, nipping on the exposed flesh of Marceline's neck. "Jake asked if I had Sugar Rot, and of course, Finn had to have a look."

The vampire laughed—breathlessly, which let Bubblegum know she was doing just fine-, and squeezed the princess's bottom.

"Is payback a witch, Bonnie?" she purred, tilting her head, giving the rosy girl's mouth even more access.

Bubblegum bit down, feeling Marceline's muscles jump. Nails pricked the pink, sensitive skin of her backside, and she moved her hands to ashen breasts.

She suckled, pressing her tongue to the pale skin between her teeth for harder suction. Her hands kneaded the full flesh of the queen's chest, thumbs gracing over their hardening perks.

And she had almost forgotten how Marceline's skin tasted, how her cool body warmed with every stroke. How she could make that heart not used to moving pound away under a tomb of ribs.

_Like she's coming to life_. Her own heart softened for the girl in rush of affection, and Bubblegum tenderly kissed her work. It was easy to forget how vulnerable a vampire queen could be, given her walls were down.

And despite the pain she must've caused, here she was letting them down for her again.

"Yes it is," Bonnibel finally, playfully answered, blowing droplets on her words. Marceline gave a lazy grin, a hand coming up to touch the spot.

"Unlike you, I'll show this off like the badge of honor it is," she said.

And Bubblegum swallowed her 'don'ts'—_talk later._ Instead her hands grabbed Marceline's hips, and she pushed her back, turning her sharply against the wall.

The vampire pressed her cheek against the tile, lips parted. Her legs spread the moment the princess's wet front met her back, and Bubblegum slid her hand between the ashen thighs from behind. Her other swept the curtain of hair over the queen's shoulder before it crept to the front of Marceline's pelvis.

Her lips found the vampire's ear. "Is that so?"

Marceline gave a low growl, tugging the hand on her abdomen lower in impatience.

Bubblegum pushed her fingers up and in, lifting her head to watch the queen's eyes close. The grip Marceline had on her other hand fell loose, and the princess rubbed down, finding that bundle of nerves.

Her hands synced, fingers pumping inside and in time to the tight circles outside.

A cry tumbled from Marceline's lips, her shoulders stiffening. Her hand gripped back down on the pink wrist she could reach, a demanding act for more.

As if the Princess even considered letting up. She thrust her arm harder, swallowing tightly. _Relishing_ the control she had.

Marceline's capricious nature was something that had always excited her, but knowing that she could bend it, knowing that she could dominate; a throb pulsed between her own thighs, and Bubblegum pressed her forehead between the shuddering girl's shoulder blades.

"_Bonnibel_," the vampire pleaded.

"Yes?" she whispered, pressing an open mouthed kiss to her spine. She brought her teeth in, grazing there, and Marceline shivered.

And why couldn't she be submissive elsewhere?

Wasn't this proof that Marceline would let her take the reins every now and then? That she could understand when she had to listen?

That if the need be, she would let Bonnibel take control, even if just for a moment.

Bubblegum felt a soft flutter of surprise—there was optimism there for once. A reason why hope was perfectly fair.

A tremor ran up the queen's legs, calling her back, and Bubblegum curled her fingers, her other hand rubbing where she knew Marceline needed it the most even faster.

And oh, how she wanted to keep her on that edge. To have her teetering over into something incredibly wonderful.

She just wanted Marceline to always feel this much attention and care.

And only from her.

"_Mine,"_ she couldn't help but whisper, biting the lobe of the pointed ear.

Marceline locked up against the wall, riding ecstasy with a roll of her hips. She moaned, her head dragging down into a bow, her bangs sliding down the wall.

She pulled Bonnibel's hands up and around her waist, and the princess hugged her tight.

"Here," she murmured, pulling them back and more into the warm stream, and Marceline cranked the knob for more hot water. A wave of heat melted down the two, and the queen turned in her arms, eyes half lidded as she moved in for a hungry kiss.

"I missed you," she admitted, her usually powerful voice almost weak. And before Bubblegum could even respond, the girl's fingers were lightly rolling her nipples.

A sound weaved from the princess, hands coming to grip Marceline's shoulders.

The vampire's lips ghosted down her cheek, her chin, her neck, lapping up the rivets of water. Lower, her tongue flickering where she had bitten her earlier. And then her mouth was on her chest, nipping and sucking sensitive skin.

And Bubblegum melted under her, gasping. That tongue was too skilled, it's forked end too good. The mouth climbed back up in a mixture of teeth and licking, working right back up to parted lips. The tongue pushed its way inside to hers, tasting every inch.

A sleek thigh slid between her legs, and she welcomed it with need, moving her hips with a whimper.

Because she had missed Marceline, too. She had missed the songs that broke out of nowhere, like the world's most raging musical. Missed the way the vampire could get her so worked up, in this way and in others. Even when it was annoyance, even when it was anger.

Missed how hard her blood pumped in her ears, missed the way the vampire could make a smile erupt unexpectedly from inside her.

A hand pushed between the thigh and her wet heat, and Bubblegum shifted, looping arms around Marceline's neck again. Grabbing her hair as those fingers pushed in, riding them.

They parted breathlessly, and the queen's eyes were watching her, watching the blush that had to be blooming across Bubblegum's cheeks, gazing into her eyes and only blinking when the water overran them.

And she gripped the nape of Marceline's neck, thrusting against the hand and thigh that moved just as powerfully back, her eyes starting to squeeze shut.

"Look at me, Bonnibel," the queen whispered, and she opened them back up.

Bubblegum willed this girl to know, to see. To just _know_ that she was falling right back into this with her. Plummeting at a speed that was so delirious and frightening that she wanted to scream.

She almost did, crashing head first into bliss. She strangled the noise in her throat, choking out sharp cries. Her knees bent, and Marceline kept her up, working her through the tight clench of her muscles, rubbing slower and slower until Bonnibel came back down.

She returned to Marceline kissing her eyelids, her nose, her lips.

And with a shiver, the princess realized how cold the water had gotten. Unconsciously, she cuddled into the vampire for warmth.

"We should probably get out before we prune into raisins," Marceline murmured against her skin, running a hand down her drenched pink hair.

Bubblegum nodded, and panting, let her head fall on the vampire's slick shoulder.

Of course, for all of her powers, Marceline wasn't a mind reader.

And if she _was_ to know, then the moment Bonnibel had been dreading had come.

Actions had been made, but now it was words that were needed.

Past events to be looked over. And ones that had been put behind for a reason.


	3. Chapter 3

"So, what do you want to talk about again?"

Bonnibel looked down from where she sat up on her hips. Marceline sucked on one of her long canines, trying to read that pretty pink face.

She had asked it casually enough, mostly because she didn't really see a reason to talk. She dug the princess, the princess dug her. Again, of course. But that was the past.

Any time Bonnibel had to leave the room on one crisis or the other, she had kissed her cheek, told her she'd be right back, and Marceline had found ways to entertain herself. And each time, she felt less and less like the princess was…

Abandoning her.

Anyway, despite her lyric writing, she felt the words she wrote meant nothing until they were being sung and strummed.

And it was the same for everything else. Words could lie. Words could be excuses, ways to buy time. A promise didn't mean anything unless it was proven by an act.

So any time the princess returned, the vampire had pushed her up against a wall, a door, down on her bed, the carpet. Her hunger for pink skin and soft sounds was rampant, and every time Bonnibel was just as eager to yank the queen's clothes back off.

But now it was after dinner, and Bonnibel's growing anxiety hadn't gotten past Marceline once. It was in the way she cleaned her fingernails, how she wrung her hands or rubbed her temples.

She wouldn't really count the constant hair brushing or crown straightening. That was just 'sex hair repair,' something Marceline had yet to bother with. Her hair was a wild and spiky mess all day. And it honestly wasn't very different from how she usually wore it.

However, she had made sure that her latest greeting was just dropping an arm from behind her head, an extended hand and invitation.

Bonnibel had taken it, and she had yanked the girl up onto her lap, still reclining in the air. And now the princess was leaning back on the hands she perched atop the rocker's thighs, looking down with calculation.

"Do you remember the night you gave me that shirt?" she finally asked.

Marceline nodded, a faint smile on her lips.

"I feel like it started everything," Bonnibel continued.

"Is that why you kept it?" she asked, almost tentatively.

Bonnibel tucked her lip between her teeth, her legs swinging. "Partially…in all honesty, I haven't been with anyone like that since."

Marceline's toes fidgeted. She cast her eyes into the shadows pooling at the window.

"Yeah. Me neither."

She felt the princess's hands squeeze her thighs, and chanced a look back. Bonnibel was smiling. She stuck her forked tongue out, a reflex to quickly turn things playful, and the younger girl rolled her eyes in good humor.

But the smile gracing her features was fading.

"That shirt brought us back together too."

Uh oh. Here it comes.

"And for that to happen, we had to have fallen apart."

Marceline sat up, placing her hands on Bonnibel's hips.

"Bonnie," she sighed, "things were different back then. We were different." She eyed the pale pink just now coming back to where she had bit the night before, its circular edge peering from Bonnie's dress like the illuminated side of a moon.

Since then, any time the queen had reached her climax, she had taken care to clench her jaw, pushing her face into the crook of the princess's neck instead.

"You know, I drink color now. Mostly. And the Screams were fun and all. But now I have enough regular gigs to keep up solo. I don't need to be around all those smelly boys." She nosed Bonnibel's jaw, nuzzling up towards her ear and burying into the side of her neck.

It was an affectionate gesture, an act of intimacy. The princess trusted her enough to let her mouth near her neck, and Marceline liked her enough not to bite. _No matter how good it smelled._

And Bonnibel knew it, too. She felt the girl's pulse quicken, and her pink arms came to hug her shoulders.

"I know—and I'm sorry I reacted the way I did. I'd never seen a drop of blood in my life, much less…"

Marceline felt a flash of anger at herself.

The kill hadn't even been necessary. And to turn and find Bonnibel's face…

"Anyway, I shouldn't have run from you. And denied you access into the kingdom."

Well _spit_, maybe words had a purpose after all. How long had she been longing to hear that? It almost felt like a weight being plucked off of her. A steel ball dissolving in her gut.

A memory threatened to rear its head, of calling out into a series of desperate nights only to be chased away like the monster she admittedly was. But Bonnibel was supposed to have seen past that—

_She does now_, the vampire reminded herself. And the ugly hurt stopped.

"That…means a lot to hear," she murmured, sighing into sweet and sugary hair. But now for the difficult part. "And I, uh…I shouldn't have shoved you away like that when you tried to make amends."

Her voice had gotten quieter and quieter, and it wasn't even _the half of it_. But Bonnibel shifted, pressing a kiss to her cheek before settling back into her, and Marceline felt the odd sensation of blushing tingle her face.

It was something Bonnie was too good at doing, really.

"Did you start drinking color for me?"

Marceline's head turned sharply, her cheek pressing to the back of the princess's head. It wasn't something she had ever really admitted to herself. Her pride had told her that blood had become boring after a millennia.

But feelings? Insecurity? No way.

"Yeah," she breathed, and now she felt way too vulnerable. Her eyes closed as if she could make herself disappear with a blink.

"Oh Marceline," Bonnibel murmured, her hands rubbing up and down her back. "You shouldn't have to change yourself."

She shrugged, swallowing down the rush of emotion that threatened to spill out. "Easier to make friends, too. Plus Dad _hates_ it."

_Say it. Be a big girl, you wienie._

"And I'm sorry for using you to make a statement against him. Really, it was just a bonus. Because I, uh—"

_Out with it, square!_

"I liked you a lot."

_Oh geez, what would the wolves say if they saw you now_?

"I like you a lot now, Marceline."

The vampire swallowed thickly. _Whoa, look at that, chance two_.

She gently pulled the girl back until they were face to face. And Bonnibel's face shifted to surprise, a fully attentive expression.

As if she was anticipating it.

Marceline ran a hand through her black mane. "Bonnie?"

"Wait," the princess said, and the vampire hadn't been aware of how high she had been until now.

Because Bonnibel's expression was falling. Her brow was furrowing, her lips folding into a frown. Her face was turning towards the floor feet below, bangs sliding across her forehead.

Because she could be let down here.

_No, Bonnie, no._

"But as much as I like you, there are other issues that need to be addressed."

Marceline leaned back until her spine was straight, an arm draping over her narrowed eyes.

"Like _what_?"

"Marceline," Bonnibel cautioned, placing a hand on her stomach. The vampire fought the urge to flinch. "You need to listen."

"I don't need to get all worked up for nothing," she growled, and part of her told her to shut it already.

"Don't be like that! I haven't said _no_," Bubblegum snapped, and Marceline just knew she was crossing her arms.

"You haven't said yes either. And Gods know that's the only answer I'd be giving you."

"I'm not like you, Marceline!" The princess yelled, yanking the vampire's arm away from her startled face. "I can't just tell my kingdom to go shove it and run away with you! I can't always just choose what I want!"

"Get off me," Marceline hissed. And for a second, Bonnibel's face was stung.

But just as instantly, she looked like she was reeling in rage.

"I can't, you're _ten feet off the ground_—see? This is what I mean. You never think things through. You just leap without looking—!"

The vampire sat up and gripped her so quickly that she heard Bonnibel gasp, her body freezing in her arms.

Fear. That was fear.

Something akin to agony staggered through her. And there was not enough air in this room.

This stupid, brightly colored room wasn't half as dark as it should be.

She landed roughly, jostling the princess onto her bed with such force the girl bounced twice.

"_Marceline_!" Bonnibel demanded.

The vampire shook her head, turning towards the window.

"I wouldn't have come last night if I knew that you were still too scared, _Princess_."

"Don't you dare!" Bonnie's voice was brimming in deep offense, and if she turned around she knew she would see the rosy girl's lips quivering.

She didn't need this.

First Simon, then her father, and now? Bubblegum, and twice in a row? Oh _goody_, what was the prize?

Her red boot was on the window sill when hands clawed into her shoulders, when she was being yanked back with strength so startling that she was sure something had possessed Bubblegum.

There were fingers digging into her face, lips on hers, towing her back. And it was Bonnibel all on her own, yanking Marceline's hands down to her dress laced hips.

"You think I'm scared of you?" she asked somewhere above the pulse thudding in the queen's ears. They were moving slowly, backwards towards the door. Towards the light switch that Bonnibel's hand left the vampire's nape to throw down.

The shadows enveloped them in what could only be pitch black for the princess. But a mix of green and black and white for a vampire.

Bonnibel's eyes searched blindly before her, as if she could feel the way Marceline was memorized inches away.

Those delicate hands slowly felt up past her pointed ears, cupping her jaw. Her thumbs slid down Marceline's lips, and the queen pulled them back, opening her mouth just enough for the princess's touch to slip down the length of her fangs.

And Bubblegum's expression easily read the triumph of finding her target. She lifted her lips, kissing her teeth.

Marceline hissed, and something inside had turned feral. Feral because feral never had anything to lose. There was no emotional pain in a hunt.

Wild enough to force her arms under the princess's, her nails digging into the wall.

Animalistic, a primal move to crawl upwards, bringing Bonnibel up with her lithe body, feeling the girl's arms cling around her neck. Up and up until she pressed the princess into the corner of her ceiling, dragging her tongue across her throat.

She slipped her arm behind Bonnibel's head, using her chest and stomach and hips to pin her body, and Bubblegum shivered above and beneath her.

"_How about now_?" the queen whispered. Her hand was digging past the folds of Bonnibel's dress, fingers hooking into her underwear.

The silence crashed over her like waves on mute. Her ears were honed in on the girl's breathing, strained enough to tell the difference between inhale and exhale.

She peered up, finding the princess's face was blank again in her searching. It moved down past the corner of Marceline's eye in a pale gleam, the soft skin of her cheek brushing against hers.

A nose bumped lightly into her ear, a pair of lips instantly following. They weren't quivering in the slightest. The panties fell down the distance that it would take for either of them to fall.

And then, in a moan that Bonnibel would've used at any old time the older girl had her pinned, the words breathed down.

"_Take me_."

There was heat between those thighs, wet and ready and surely anything but scared.

_Bonnibel…_

She entered her, feeling nails dig down into her back. Feeling soft teeth bite into the side of her grey throat, just where Bonnibel knew she liked it.

And wasn't this enough?

Wasn't the musk of fear nowhere to be found on this sweet, beautiful girl?

Wasn't it enough to have a mouth raised on sugars hungrily taking_ her_ lips? Enough that a princess who glimmered in the sun's warmth sought _her_ in the dark?

Enough that even though she couldn't see, couldn't move without a possibility of slipping into a fall, her body writhed. That her hips found Marceline's thrusting hand again and again. Trusting that the vampire would keep her up from tumbling down.

And there were fingers wrestling into her bristling hair, pushing her mouth against a fully exposed neck, Bubblegum's head pressing back into the vampire's arm.

The pulse thundering at her lips made her mouth water. The syrupy sheet of sweat intoxicated her. The clench of her jaw felt weak.

And Bonnibel knew it. She knew she did.

The princess cried out, her body stiffening all around the vampire. And yet she was so close. She could care less that she was being pinned by something bred from blood lust and guts. That she might as well be holding a blade to her own throat.

She had seen the vampire practically drenched in the innards of her prey. Seen the reflective eyes, the claws and fangs.

Her heart squeezed over the memory of Bonnibel's eyes widening, of her shrinking back.

The princess had needed months away to even try to come see her again. Months of crying in her room, because bat ears didn't miss much, even when they were being chased by torches and pitchforks. But by then, the queen had soured.

And now, all she needed was Marceline's thumb to circle that spot on the outside, the one begging for attention.

Her fingers slowed instead, almost stopping.

Bonnibel whimpered. Her hands dragged down the vampire's body, groping for her rocking elbow. She tugged at in urgency, in begging the girl to speed back up.

The other hand felt its way between the singer's legs, squeezing, and Marceline hadn't even thought about how much she ached there for Bonnibel until then.

Up until this moment, it had been a different kind of ache.

Her eyes closed, the queen raised her head, lips tracing Bubblegum's jaw until they found her chin.

"I love you," she whispered there, and Bonnibel gave a shuddering gasp. The girl froze, her pulse jumping inside Marceline's hypersensitive ears, but this time the older girl knew better.

"_Marceline—_"

And then the queen proved it, fingers digging down hard into the place Bonnibel was swollen with her honeyed blood, the vampire's thumb whirling around the outer nerves.

Bubblegum's body arched up off the ceiling and down into Marceline, tears almost breaching the lashes that squeezed shut over them.

And as the princess rushed to kiss her, she heard her sob, "I love you too."

Then, just as needing, "_Stay_."

Marceline pulled the girl into her, curling around her protectively. She slowly descended them, drifting back until the mattress greeted her with a soft hill of blankets.

She rolled them over, pulling the covers up in a cave, feeling Bubblegum's body fit into hers.

"Shhh," she coaxed, pressing her lips to Bonnibel's cheeks, tasting the salt sugar of her tears. "I'm sorry. I won't go."

Because now she knew Bonnibel wouldn't either.

"_Didn't you ever think that I was scared for you_?" the princess hiccupped, her breath ragged before it stumbled right back into sobs. _"If anyone knew, they'd come after you. Especially now—people want this stupid crown more than ever."_

Her fingers balled into Marceline's shirt, her wet face burying into her neck. And the vampire squeezed her eyes shut over tears of her own.

"_I didn't know that's what you meant_."

"_Of course it was!_" Bubblegum hissed, thumping a fist into the vampire's chest. "_And I'm always busy. What if you felt neglected, what if you felt forgotten. You could always leave me."_

"No way, Bonnie. We have the same chums—where you make time for them, you can make time for me. You do your thing, I do mine. And as for the other, I can protect myself just as well as I can protect you. We could give Finn and Jake a break for once."

A laugh escaped Bonnibel, like a moon peering out behind storm clouds. "_They really d-deserve it."_

"And we deserve each other," Marceline urged, holding the girl tight. "Everything comes with sacrifices. I don't mind making them for you."

"Well…" Bonnibel said, sniffling, "I guess I could lose some of my royal cred by being caught with you."

The vampire snorted. "Yeah, you and me both—I can kiss my too cruel for love act goodbye."

"You might have to clean up a bit too."

"Or you might have to get a lil' wild," Marceline growled, her head melting and morphing into that of a black wolf's, red eyes and yellow fangs. She licked at the squirming princess, and Bonnibel shrieked in laughter.

"Oh GROSS! Stop! I demand it!"

With a surprising bout of strength, Bubblegum twisted the wolfish girl onto her back, clamping her snout shut. Although later, Marceline would argue she had let her.

"Turn back," Bonnibel murmured, tapping her wet mushroom nose.

Marceline eyed the princess's darkening gaze, her heart once again lurching to life. "Why should I?" she managed between her pressed teeth.

"Because," Bubblegum said, her legs parting to slide to either of the vampire's hips. "I don't get back together with wolves."

**A/N: I'm thinking about doing a story that would prequel this on my interpretation of their past. Thoughts appreciated. **


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